Despite considerable use of firearms nowadays, archery still remains a sport that is practised by quite a few enthusiasts. For these sportsmen, bow and arrows are the most exhilirating way to make a kill on a game animal. It requires strength in the bending of the bow, skill in the aiming at the animal; one needs to come sufficiently close to the animal before the speed of the arrow can be high enough to kill, whereas the game animal has its chance of seeing the hunter and escaping same; and because the effectiveness of the bow is limited to a short range, there is a certain level of dangerousness for the hunter in the event, which do enhance the sporting dimension thereof. Also, since the effective range of the arrow is limited to 100 meters or so, the possibility to injure a non-targeted animal or human being is almost eliminated.
The conventional cross-bow includes a bow mounted transversely on a stock and provided with a cocking mechanism which enables the use of a bow of greater strength than a simple bow. Therefore, the cross-bow has a range of about twice that of a simple bow. A major disadvantage of the cross-bow is that the transversely-mounted bow is highly cumbersome, especially when the hunter walks or crawls in wooden areas, and this reduces his chances of approaching the game animal unnoticed.